The Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood and..

Kieran patted my shoulder, or rather Casteel’s hand.
Maybe both.
“You think you can tell us what you remember?” Casteel
asked after a moment, and I told him I could. “I need to
know exactly what happened at the Temple. What you and
that son of a bitch Jansen may have talked about when he
was masquerading as Beckett. How he acted. I want to know
exactly what those people said to you.” He met my gaze. “I
know it won’t be easy, but I need to know anything you can
remember.”
I nodded. I told him everything, and it was easier than I
thought it would be. What had happened had caused an
ache in the center of my chest, but I didn’t let that feeling
grow or get in the way. Casteel wouldn’t let it. I felt next to
nothing from him as I talked. Now was not the time for
emotion. Only facts were needed.
“That prophecy he spoke of?” I said, looking between
them. “Have either of you heard of that?”
“No.” Casteel shook his head. “It sounded like a load of
bullshit, especially the part about the Goddess Penellaphe.
Sort of insulting to attach that nonsense to the Goddess of
Wisdom.”
I couldn’t agree more. “But could it be something you
haven’t heard?”
“No. We don’t have prophecies,” Kieran confirmed. “We
don’t believe in them. It sounds like a mortal thing.”
“They’re not widely believed in Solis, but they do exist,”
I told them. “I didn’t believe it either. It all sounded too
convenient and exact, but there’s a lot of things I don’t
know or believe.”
“Well, that is one thing I don’t think you have to worry
about,” Casteel stated.
I nodded, my thoughts shifting. “When the sky started
to rain blood, they said it was the tears of the gods,” I told
him. “They took it as a sign that what they were doing was
right.”